False Future
by The Sylver Lining
Summary: Lexington learns about the horrors Goliath saw in 'Future Tense,' and resolves that he will not become the monster that killed his friends. Bloodshed and betrayal can be prevented, lives can be saved, if love outweighs the trauma. And it does. Always.
1. Chapter 1

"Deep thoughts?"

"Hmm?"

"Have to be, big guy. You never have any other kind."

"It is nothing, I am sure."

"Come on, I know that look. You're pondering something big."

"It is... I should not dwell on it, dark dreams and false futures. They are the stuff of a trickster's cruel game - and yet..."

"False future - oh. _Oh._"

"Yes. I had nearly managed to put it from my mind, but..."

# # #

Lex was excited. Too excited to sit still, even for an extended IM chat with Staghart. The time-zone difference made those fleeting time windows when they could both be online rare and precious - but tonight was different. Special. Cybercon. The fourth annual cyberbiotics and robotics blowout that took up an entire Manhattan city block. Too risky to go to the convention proper - there would be tons of cosplay, but Quarrymen would be on the lookout there for any too-realistic Gargoyle costumes.

But the Parade - that they could go see. Heck, it could probably be seen from space. Like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, but with towering mechanical creatures instead of balloons - say what you would about Hello Kitty, seeing a 30-foot one stomping down the street was really, really impressive. Especially if you knew the inner workings, the beautiful, intricate connections that made it blink and move and almost come alive. while everyone else oohed and ahhed at the flashes and pounding music and block-party atmosphere, he'd be imagining the graceful clockwork and elegant programming that went into every wonder. Undressing them with his eyes.

Ooh, dat motherboard.

But then he stopped. He ceased the all-fours scamper through the castle's familiar stone corridor, and stood up - he'd heard his name.

"Hmm?" He turned, looking around, bu the hall was empty. Shrugging, he made to continue - but there it was again. Goliath - not calling for him, just talking at a normal level, a low rumble that was hard to understand from another room. The last clear word at the end of a sentence, it sounded like - "blahblahblah, Lexington."

Lex automatically turned and headed toward the sound of his leader's voice. His thoughts hadn't caught up to his feet; it wasn't important to articulate the bone-deep clan instinct to follow and flock, close and ready.

"The Halloween celebration. His... cyborg costume."

"Yeah. I thought I'd seen that before," Elisa - and now Lex smiled. It _had_ been a pretty amazing costume, one of his best efforts in his own humble opinion. He stopped at the doorway, staying out of sight. He couldn't help it, knew he shouldn't eavesdrop, but the praise made him just a little warm in his tummy with excitement. They were still talking about it, weeks later!

"I mean, he was probably just going along with Angela and Broadway's Wizard of Oz theme, like a futuristic Tin Man, but..."

"Yes. It was too familiar."

"_Scary _accurate."

"The first sign, first hint I've seen that that - daymare, may come to pass."

A daymare? Goliath had bad dreams? Lex couldn't imagine his mature, powerful leader scared of anything. And it had to do with his _costume_, of all things? To borrow a phrase, what sorcery was this? It wasn't even meant to be scary...

"Have you noticed anything else?" Elisa sounded tentative, concerned, a tone he didn't often hear from the confident, together detective.

Goliath took in a deep breath, let it out in a rumbling sigh. "We were all badly hurt by Demona's betrayal," he said gravely. "The pain eased, but the pattern continued. He has not fully recovered from the Pack's treachery, and I do not know if he ever will."

Lex froze, a cold shock running through him as if he'd been doused in ice water.

"I know what you mean. When they're involved, he... goes a little overboard."

"To put it lightly."

"But come on, his priorities are still in the right place. Remember the oil rig? He had a choice between revenge and saving Brooklyn - and he made the right call."

"Yes. And if it had ended there, I would not worry. But our long absence in Avalon, the weeks that followed..."

"Hey. I know _that_ look too. You can't blame yourself, Goliath. I know - we _all_ know - that if you could have, you'd have been home in a heartbeat. We didn't have a choice."

"I know. And yet, I cannot help but remember _that_ was the impetus. We never returned. And that abandonment-"

"Goliath-"

"In their minds, at least, we abandoned them. And to go through those long years, to watch our city crumble in our absence, to be left to pick up the shattered pieces alone... Clans are not meant to be separated!"

"We weren't, not really. It wasn't real. None of it was-"

"You were not there, Elisa." Goliath's voice was rough, as if he struggled to hold back a roar like thunder from a flash summer storm. "I saw and heard the destruction, smelled the blood... felt Broadway's life slip from my hands. This was no mere dream. Yes, it was a sadistic illusion from Oberon's ruthless child, intellectually I know this. It is nothing but a bad memory. And yet to see something from that memory with my own waking eyes..."

"We're back now. It never happened. Hell, it was probably never even a possibility! Puck knows how to play on your guilt, he can find your deepest fear and use it against you."

A long pause, and Lex held his breath. Finally, Goliath spoke again, so low he had to strain to hear.

"He destroyed us all. Not here, not the Lexington we know, but in that... potential future, the damage ran so deep that he betrayed his clan and friends and killed them, one by one. Brooklyn, Demona - Angela. '_All gone bye-bye,'_ that is what he said. And then I-"

Goliath's voice rose again, hard and strained from - what? Anger? Pain?

"I can still remember his face. The way he looked when I - _I!_" He cut himself off with a stifled, furious snarl in the back of his throat.

That sound made Lexington start; he recoiled from the wall as if it had burned him. He had no idea what he'd just heard, but he didn't want to hear any more. Goliath and Elisa were upset, scared of _him,_ it was surreal. Some kind of alternate future - a bad dream? Puck? All about how he'd done something terrible. He'd hurt his friends. Worse than hurt.

_All gone bye-bye._

Shaking, heart pounding and breath coming in shallow gasps, Lex turned and stumbled back down the stone corridor.

# # #

"I killed him," Goliath murmured with a sort of slow incredulity, as if he still could not quite believe his own words. "He betrayed us all, obliterated his entire clan - and then I killed him in return. That, of everything, I cannot forget."

_"It was a lie."_ Elisa's voice was hard, and it made him look up to meet her eyes. She didn't coddle, she only told him what he needed to hear when it was the truth. "It was a manipulation, and the Lex you saw wasn't him. None of them were. It brought out the worst in everyone, Goliath. That's what lies _do."_

She made herself smile. "Besides. Even if it were a real possible future, we've changed it. It can never happen, because we made it back."

"You're right," and now the undercurrent of pain in the deep notes of his voice was gone, replaced by warmth. "As you say, it was a lie - and it failed. We are a clan. A trickster's shadow play changes nothing. We are alive, together again."

If he was still trying to convince himself, he at least did a good job of it.

"Yeah. Maybe the silver lining in all this is we'll appreciate the here and now more. It's kind of like a fresh start. How often do you get a second chance? All we can really do is keep moving forward."

She didn't have to force herself to smile anymore, and it started to feel good. "Know I'm glad to be home."

After a long moment of quiet, Goliath nodded, some of the sharp-edged intensity fading from his face. "As am I."

# # #

**A/N: **This is the first Gargoyles fic I've ever written... and I've been a fan for 17 years, aahaha! This just wouldn't leave me alone, though. It had to be done. It probably _has _been done before, but I don't care, it wouldn't let me rest until I got it out.

The reference to the costume is from the graphic novel continuation. I just about peed myself the first time I saw that, both with laughter and then _horror._ I figure Goliath had pretty much the same reaction (minus the lulz).

There is _definitely_ going to be more. I'm excited.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Lex! You ready to go? Angela's waiting for us."

Lexington jumped - he'd been a million miles and decades away. In a nightmare world where he betrayed his friends, or a worse present where Goliath spoke his name not with fondness but mistrust. He turned to see his exited rookery brothers, eager to stretch their wings and hurry off to a rare night of celebration and fun. Lex wished he could join them, in a lot of ways.

"Uh... you guys go ahead," he forced a smile, but it only came across looking pained. "I'm just gonna stay in tonight."

Brooklyn and Broadway exchanged a glance, communicating in their twin-like (or triplet) near-telepathy the Trio had shared virtually since hatching. Lex was just fluent in this fond language as his brothers, even if it wasn't aimed at him at the moment.

"Really?" Brooklyn quirked a skeptical eyebrow ridge. "You've been talking about this thing for weeks. You really gonna miss it?"

"Yeah - you feeling okay?" Broadway studied his smaller rookery brother, immediately picking up on the impression that something wasn't quite right.

Lex hesitated under his brothers' combined perceptive gazes, torn in too many directions to answer immediately. They knew him so well, he was touched by the concern, and some of the hard edge of fear began to soften. They were still here, they were together, he was safe and loved. But Goliath's words crept back into memory and took hold like a sinking nausea, and he had to breathe deep and slow to keep his heart from racing.

Brooklyn had "gone bye-bye." What did that mean? But of course, in the terrified space in the back of Lex's mind he knew, of course he did, he just didn't want to articulate it. And, he remembered with a cold swell of suppressed desperation, Broadway, Goliath had "felt his life slip away," oh God -

"Lex?" Broadway frowned at his half-panicked stare, meeting his wide, scared eyes with his own steady, calm gaze.

"Nothing!" Lexington yelped, shaken from his reverie. "I'm fine, I- I just-" he stammered, not quite sure how to keep a hold on words. He wanted to tell them everything, that he didn't know the whole story but what he did know was _bad,_ he was scaring himself, scared _of_ himself, scared of losing them. He wanted to run up and hug both of them very tightly, tell them not to disappear.

Don't "go bye-bye," don't "slip away."

He took a deep breath. "I'm fine," he said more calmly, making himself smile a little more convincingly. "I just... need take care of some stuff."

"Oh," Brooklyn slowly nodded, eyes lighting up with a glint of fun. "What time is it in England?"

"Trouble in Paradise?" Broadway smiled, but only half-joking. First of the trio to achieve a steady relationship, he had the somewhat annoying habit of thinking of himself as a love guru, dispensing not-always-necessary advice at any opportunity. But Lex couldn't bring himself to be bothered, especially when his brothers weren't quite wrong.

Paradise was breaking down around him, just not in the way they thought.

"You could say that," Lex said quietly - then forced himself to perk up. "Seriously, everything's cool. You guys go, have a good time."

"Okay..." Broadway wasn't entirely satisfied, but Brooklyn seemed to accept it.

"We'll bring you back a robo-puppy or something," the beaked gargoyle grinned in a reassuring kind of way, and Lex tried to return it.

"Thanks guys. Have fun, and - uh, stay safe... okay?"

Another glance between them, both brothers increasingly aware of the faint alarm bells going off in the back of their minds. But now Lex was in on the communication and they all talked without words; they read his message loud and clear.

_I'm not okay. But I'll be okay. Promise._

"Sure, Lex. You too."

Lexington's smile faded as his brothers headed down the corridor and turned a corner.

He turned and dragged himself in the opposite direction; not sure where he was going, but moving made him feel a little better.

Trouble in Paradise indeed. But that made him think - maybe he would go shoot an email to Staghart after all. He was shaken, felt sick to his stomach, and nobody else knew how to sooth his frenetic, troubled thoughts so well.

But what in the world would he say?

Dear Amp, Goliath and Elisa think I did something terrible or will do it, and now I'm scared that I'm going crazy. Maybe I'll hurt everyone I love. Maybe I'll hurt you.

And, God, _that_ thought made his blood freeze. He couldn't stand the possibility of losing his clan, or having them look at him with fear, that alone twisted his heart. But if _Staghart _did it, if somehow he got hurt, if he 'went bye-bye,' no, _no-_

"Lexing-"

"Aaagh!" Lex jumped, springing backwards after nearly colliding with the huge deep-violet body that was suddenly right in front of him.

"I did not mean to startle you," Goliath rumbled, looking faintly amused. It wasn't often people didn't notice the towering gargoyle's presence, and were surprised as if he'd snuck up on them.

"Nah, it's my fault," Lexington gasped - he was _really_ getting tired of jumping out of his skin. "I was... somewhere else. Sorry."

"No need to apologize - I'm sure you _were_ somewhere else. The machine parade? Brooklyn, Broadway and Angela have just left, but you can still catch up."

"Yeah, I..." Lex shifted uncomfortably, suddenly finding it hard to meet his leader's gaze. "I thought I'd stay in."

"Really?" Goliath gave him a closer look. "I thought you were greatly looking forward to-"

"I dunno, I'm just not in the mood," Lex interrupted, unintentionally sharp. "Where's Elisa?" he asked suddenly as the thought popped into his head. She'd be easier to talk to.

"It is her night to remain in the police station," Goliath said slowly, Lex's snappish mood not going unnoticed. To the perceptive gargoyle's eyes, not much did. "'Desk jockey duty,' she calls it. She hates it."

"I bet."

"So tonight I patrol on my own. With much of the city's security force watching the parade, the rest is vulnerable. Especially with Elisa... desk jockeying." Goliath started down the hall again and Lex followed. "If you are staying in, Hudson is in the television room - the Channel of History is studying castles of Scotland."

Lex hesitated. There was no trace of the anguish or dread he'd heard in Goliath's voice before; his leader looked at him with the same familiarity as always. If there was anything else in Goliath's face it was familial concern at his young clanmate's strained, nervous demeanor, but no suspicion and certainly no malice.

It was almost enough to make Lex wonder if he'd imagined the whole thing. But the cold tightness in his stomach remained - it _hadn't_ been a dream, and to dismiss it as such would be dangerous. Goliath _had_ said all those terrifying things, he really had thought Lex had betrayed them. Would. Whatever. It was real.

"Can I go with you?"

Goliath turned, casting him a questioning look at the sudden change.

"I mean, I'm not in the mood for the parade, or watching the History Channel get everything wrong" Lex said quickly. "But I am in the mood for, uh, patrolling."

Goliath nodded, somewhere between amusement and confusion. "Of course. Let us go."

# # #

"Deep thoughts?"

"Hmm? Yeah. I guess." Lex mumbled, not looking up. The silence stretched between them again. For hours they'd glided in swift parabolas above the city that never slept, watchful eyes and ears searching for any sign of trouble. Or at least one pair searched - Lexington was still on autopilot, lost in a silent reverie of dark dreams and internalized fear. His mind's eye studied the faces of his loved ones, scouring the timeline of his own life - where had it all gone wrong? Where _would_ it go wrong?

He hadn't heard or seen a thing all night, and it wasn't because the city was especially quiet. Still, there hadn't been much need for vigilance. The air was relatively calm and free of sirens, usual lookout points in high-crime areas yielded no gunfire, not even a routine purse snatching.

Now they roosted in the corner fire escape of a dilapidated warehouse, in a district well known for Tony Dracon's gang, shilling their guns and shaking down those who couldn't afford their "protection."

Goliath crouched in an easy, poised stance, comfortable springing into forceful action as he was remaining still for patient hours. Lex hunched beside him, chin resting on his knobbly knees, curled into a sulky, tight little ball.

"Something in particular on your mind?" Goliath probed in a low voice, deep tones blending into the constant city white-noise of far-off engines and helicopter blades far above.

"Not really." Lex didn't look up, voice as tight and tense as the rest of him. There was a moment before Goliath spoke again.

"You have barely said a word since we-"

"I said I'm fine, okay?" Lex snapped. "You don't need to worry about me, it's not like I'm gonna turn on you and-"

He shut his mouth. Bit his tongue, and lapsed into a sullen silence while Goliath stared.

The hulking gargoyle looked at the diminutive one with incredulous surprise, opening his mouth to ask in his eloquent, dignified, Goliath sort of way exactly _what the hell_ was going on -

"No, no, don't hurt me, man!" A terrified human voice yelped from the alley floor, and Goliath's attention snapped from Lexington to the scene unfolding below. "I paid back the money, I'm good for this month! Mr. Dracon said I was good!"

"You forgot about the interest," answered a smooth, slimy voice. The man it belonged to swaggered forward, hefting a huge nonprojetile energy weapon. It was obscene, no gun had any business being that big unless its wielder was overcompensating for something - perfect for scaring the shit out of some poor unarmed guy in a dark alley.

Lex was only half-listening to what was being said. He was watching the intensity spread across Goliath's face in preparation for battle. And Lex could barely think, he just had to do something, _anything,_ to erase the doubt he'd heard before, restore his leader's faith that Lex was on his side, with his clan, his entire heart, forever-

"Let's get 'em!"

_"Lexington, wait-"_

Too late. With a snarl like an angry cat and eyes that flashed white in the dark, Lexington leaped from the fire escape and plunged down, landing between victim and aggressors. Arms outstretched and wings flared, he made himself as big and intimidating as possible - and the screams told him he did his job well.

"Jeezus, Glasses, it's a monster-"

"Worse, a fuckin' gargoyle! Zap it!"

Wicked blasts of energy erupted around him, tearing up pavement and leaving black scorch marks on the concrete. He didn't feel the wind of bullet near-misses, but the edge of searing heat inches from his skin. And he dodged, pressing himself flat against the ground and zigzagging, zipping serpentine along the ground until he pounced on the threatening gunman, tail whipping the firearm out of his hand.

Behind him came the heavy impact of Goliath slamming to the ground; a hurricane-whoosh of wings, and the other thug crashed into the brick wall, slumping to the pavement. The terrorized, unarmed man took the opportunity to run then, sprinting out of the alley like the Hounds of Hades were on his heels - as did the remaining disarmed gunman.

Goliath spun around, refolding his wings in the confined space. He ensured the alley was still and vacant, save for the remaining unconscious man against the wall - before turning his attention to Lexington.

"What were you thinking?" He demanded. "You know better than to-"

"I-I'm sorry!" Lex paled under his leader's hard stare, then felt his face burn. "I just wanted to-" to what? He didn't even know. Somehow take down both thugs on his own, as if that would prove his loyalty beyond a shadow of a doubt? It made no sense, he wasn't thinking straight-

Then he aught a flash of motion out of the corner of his eye. Behind Goliath, past him. The unconscious man wasn't so knocked-out after all. He'd propped himself up on an elbow, grabbed at the gun his cohort had dropped - and aimed it point-blank at Goliath's back.

Lex froze for the space of a horrified breath - then lunged forward, flying past Goliath with all of his kinetic, twitchy quickness, leaping between his leader and the gun barrel-

A flash of light and an impact like a freight train, searing heat and sick, paralyzing pain, his world exploded into blinding light and nauseating agony -

Then, nothing.

# # #

**A/N: **Yes, it _will_ be continued, this I promise. Thank you so much for the reviews! I am so happy and grateful for every one of them!


	3. Chapter 3

Everything hurt. It radiated out from his solar plexus, a constant, sharp throb. He curled around the pain, protecting the place where it all came from, folding himself around the burned skin. He shook with tremors that made him shiver and jerk as if sick electric currents still ran through his burning veins. He could barely breathe. It felt like a monster crouched on his chest, crushing the air from him and making his heart pound in struggling desperation. Air, he needed air -

He forced his lungs to expand, struggling through the pain for precious oxygen - and his head spun. He let out the breath in an agonized, strangled groan. He barely recognized the sound as coming from himself; it cut through the rushing in his ears, the constant thrum of... what? Maybe it was just the blood pounding through his traumatized head, but it wounded like something else, it came from outside himself.

A constant rhythm, steady and slow and comforting. Familiar. Something he hadn't heard for years; it lived in the back of his mind, a leftover memory that his subconscious wished for when he was alone and scared and hurting, even if he could no longer make a name belong. Someone held him like a child.

"What were you thinking?" Goliath's voice, a rumbling vibration that thrummed through Lexington's head and bones. The words were an echo; he'd heard them before, but now they weren't a reprimand. Soft, murmured with an edge of anxiety rarely heard in the deep, resonant voice. And with that sound Lex identified another - recognition of the sow, steady rhythm clicked into his head, a reason for the security it gave.

A heartbeat. Strong and regular and comforting, that reverberated through his entire body, a life-support miracle keeping him breathing when his own heart wanted to give out, weakened by trauma and fear. He pressed himself closer to the sound, the warmth, the slow rise and fall that brought peace to his fevered brain even as it brought him further into wakefulness.

His eyes squeezed shut, painfully tight - he struggled to open them, letting out another soft, pained sound.

"Lexington?" Goliath rumbled, voice lifting with a rush of relief. Lex blinked his large eyes hard, forcing the dark blur to resolve itself into a face he knew, looking down at him with undivided attention and concern. "How do you feel?"

"...Bad," Lex said with effort; his weak voice cracked and he couldn't keep the tremor out. "It burns everywhere. Can't stop shaking."

"We must get you home," Goliath frowned, voice grave. "I did not want to move you until I knew the extent of your injuries. I will make sure no more enemies lurk nearby before I take you up." He looked up at the brick alley walls rising far above them like canyon cliffs, and the dark sky beyond them. He made to set Lexington down. "Be still, I will be right-"

"No!" Lex gasped, holding tight to the broad chest that dwarfed his entire battered body. "Don't leave me!"

"All right," Goliath stopped, bringing his small clanmate back into his arms. "I am here. And I will _not_ leave you." He gently shifted Lex into one huge arm, careful not to jostle or hurt him any further. With the other huge hand he grasped the brick wall, hard-clawed fingers gouging deep holes in the mortar. He climbed slowly, one-handed, relying on strong toe-claws for further purchase. Every move was measured and deliberately aimed to protect his injured friend.

Lex hung ragdoll-limp and weak in the protective arms, trying in vain to stop the painful shudders and waves of agonized nausea. He couldn't decide if he was hot or cold; he shivered violently but burned with an unnatural fever. His lower chest and abdomen felt scorched, but his limbs were cold and tingled with sharp pins and needles. He was drenched with a cold, sick sweat and his eyes felt gummy, so hard to keep them open.

"No..." Goliath murmured as they reached the rooftop edge and the whole vault of the night sky came into view. It soon would not e night. The eastern edge of the sky was lightening in a slow shift from midnight-blue to pale grey, the first herald of oncoming dawn. "We will never make it back to the castle in time."

He carefully eased both of them over the concrete barrier and onto the tar-coated roof, finding a sheltered corner behind the metal cube of an industrial air-conditioning unit. "So we will remain here for the day. But you," he raised his voice a degree, seeing Lex's large eyes start to slip shut. "Must not sleep until then. With a wound like that, it is a long way to morning."

"But I'm tired..." Lex half-slurred, head spinning.

"There will be tie for rest soon, my friend." Goliath assured. "But you must stay awake with me just a bit longer. Speak with me," he banished the worry from his voice, making his tone lighter, somehow more welcoming. "Tell me what was going through your mind in that alley tonight."

"I dunno," Lex mumbled. He didn't want to talk, it took too much energy to drag the words out of himself. Just sleep, why wouldn't Goliath just let him sleep? So tired. "I just didn't want you to get hurt."

"Yes - and I am grateful for that," Goliath said slowly. "But it was not necessary. You put yourself in danger tonight-"

"We're always in danger."

"Yes, but we don't always rush into a dangerous situation alone. You know the wiser course is to wait until we are all ready to stand together, and watch each others' backs. You have learned that well and shown that wisdom many times." It was not an admonishment; there was no scolding or shaming in Goliath's voice. That deep voice could erupt into a thunderous roar, or it could gently hum, low vibrating notes surrounding Lex and holding him as gently as the huge arms. "And even before that, something has been on your mind. What happened tonight?"

"I..." Lex started - then stopped, chewing on his bottom lip. "It's stupid."

"Nothing that troubles you so could be. Your silence is your right to keep - but putting voice to a problem can do you as much good as a day of stone sleep."

"I just wanted you to know I'm on your side," Lex whispered, suddenly feeling very small and ashamed despite the kind words. "And that I'm brave."

"Lexington," Goliath said with an odd combination of bemusement and a sad smile. "Do you doubt my faith in you? For all your youth and size, you are one of the bravest gargoyles I have ever known. You have nothing to prove to me, or any of our clan."

Lex was quiet for a long time, and slow shivers started to creep up his spine again. "I heard you and Elisa talking..." Goliath froze, and Lex could feel him tense. "About my Halloween costume. And how it looked like - something bad. I did something bad. Or will."

"Ohh..." Goliath let out a deep sigh and shut his eyes. "You were not meant to hear that. I am sorry."

"Why are _you_ sorry? I'm the one who's gonna screw things up and - and hurt everyone!"

"You should not have had to find out that way. I did not ever want you to know - and perhaps in that, I was wrong. Perhaps you, of all of us, have a right to know, if only so both of our fears may be assuaged. Certainly, speaking with you would have shown more trust, and you deserve nothing less than that."

"Why should you trust me?" Lex tried to contract his body, curl back into the fetal-position ball he adopted in moments of stress, but found it hurt too much to move. He settled back with a small hiss of frustration, and didn't meet Goliath's eyes. "I don't think I trust me right now."

"I believe you missed some vital information," Goliath said slowly. "What I saw was not real. When Elisa, Angela and I were traveling, sent across time and miles by the magic of Avalon... Puck decided to delve into my mind, and show me a nightmare. A false future, made of my darkest fears and deepest dreads. A manipulation, to make me give up the Phoenix Gate. It was all a _lie._ You have not hurt anyone, my friend. Our clan is safe, and this world remains as it should be."

Lex took in a shuddering breath, weak with relief. "Oh. I - oh. Good. I can't..." He was stammering, almost incoherent, the terrible weight lifting from his heart. He couldn't make the words come, almost in tears - he wasn't a murderer. He hadn't betrayed his clan - he _wouldn't_. Everything would be all right.

Except for one thing, a lingering fear he couldn't forget. "But wait. You said something about... my costume, and like - like I was showing signs. Being too aggressive and - especially with the Pack, and. And you think I could still - go bad."

Goliath was quiet for a few slow breaths. It would be so easy to tell Lexington that it was all a bad dream, that there was no cause to worry. Set all his fears to rest, let him smile again in blissful ignorance. When he spoke again, his words were tempered with gentleness, though with the same honesty he always showed.

"If I am vigilant, it comes not from a distrust or doubt in you, but a desire and need to protect this clan. A gargoyle can no longer stop defending the castle-"

"Than breathing the air," Lex finished automatically, as Goliath knew he would, completing the old maxim repeated by Hudson since before he could remember. The familiar words were a comfort to both of them, and they both breathed a bit easier.

"Yes," Goliath smiled. "But even more vital are the ones inside the castle. It took me a long time to learn this - too long. In our first time, in Scotland, after the Magus cast his spell and turned you to stone at night... I still had the castle. I could have stayed, but my clan was gone - and I could not live without you."

Lex was quiet, listening, hanging on his leader's every word in the vulnerable sort of way he hadn't since he was very young. So strange - all this talk about horrible futures had taken him somewhere back in the past, to a safer time. And he felt young now, in a way that was not stifling, but freeing. There was a security and calm in being held like a child, a promise that somehow everything would be okay.

And that smallness, that sensitivity was not lost on Goliath. Particularly when it came to his clan, not much was. Lexington was not a child, though not entirely an adult; caught in that tremulous in-between state, the strange world where a trauma such as this could be all the more damaging.

He remembered the words of a wise matriarch of the Maza clan - sometimes, all children require 'special treatment.'

"Then, in this alien century, when Xanatos drove us from our castle home, we carried on. Though our home was lost, we were together. And in the horrors of that future I saw, our home was destroyed - but so were we. And that must not come to pass - I will not allow it. I will protect this clan with everything I have. A future will _not_ come to pass in which we are lost. Perhaps you were lost in the worst way of all."

He placed one giant hand on the top of Lexington's head, huge palm and fingers nearly covering the entirety of the small, hairless scalp. "You are a part of this clan. _You belong,_ you have a place with us, always. And my aim in all of this was, perhaps most of all - to protect you. The Lexington in that future was a lie, a monster conjured from a trickster's shadow play. That is not the Lexington I know. I want you to stay as you are - no," he amended. "I want to watch you grow into the wise, strong, full adult you are meant to be, whoever he is. And I want to know _that_ Lexington, as well."

"I'll do my best," Lex promised, weak voice getting some small power back. "I won't let you down again."

"You have not yet."

Lex smiled, finally letting himself relax. Let go of some of the terror, the sickness - he wasn't alone. He was still himself.

"Goliath," he said after a while. "I don't even want to ask, and - I mean, you don't have to tell me, but. I kinda gotta know. What happened in that dream?"

"Of course you may ask, and I will do my best to tell you," Goliath said quietly, horned brow furrowing. "My only concern is... there are some horrors you simply do not need plaguing your mind."

"Yeah. And I don't even wanna know - but I have to. This is gonna drive me crazy, and whatever I come up with will probably be worse than what it actually was."

"That is unlikely." Goliath frowned, slipping into his easy mode of deep thought. "As I said, Puck preyed upon my deepest fears, ones I did not even know I held. But... very well. The first thing we saw was a clearing of Avalon's mists. We saw the city skyline and at first rejoiced, for we believed that at last we were home..."

Goliath's words slowly painted the awful picture of a damned, gutted city, ruled by an artificial-intelligence Xanatos' totalitarian web. A time of new darkness, a world of eternal fear. The age of the horrible, bloody deaths of everyone they knew and loved. Hudson, dead before the nightmare scenario even began, in something called the "Clone Wars." Brooklyn, Angela, Demona, mutilated bodies replaced with cold electronic limbs, dead at Xanatos' hands. Broadway, blinded and damaged far beyond the physical, slipping away in Goliath's arms. Baby Alexander, grown up into a hero, fighting against his father's tyranny - and killed by the tyrant.

With each word, Goliath relived it; the strain in his voice increased with every hurt, every demise, every friend and clan member destroyed, until nobody remained except for him, Elisa - and Lexington.

Who turned around in his chair, and spoke the words.

_All gone bye-bye._

Goliath's words slowed, finally stopped. Lexington was silent too, tears streaming down his face. They'd started long ago, and he hadn't had the strength to brush them away. But the story wasn't over, he knew it wasn't; he had to hear it to the very end.

"Then what happened?" he whispered, dreading what would come next.

Goliath didn't answer right away. He remembered everything.

_"You betrayed your own clan!_" Fury flooding through him, eyes burning as he lunged at the traitorous Lexington, a flurry of rage and cold steel. Everything gone, nothing left, nothing left but to destroy him, this monster whose name he no longer knew, this _thing_ that had blasted his world to ashes.

Slamming him into his own computer terminals, hitting him again and again, not stopping even after he was still.

Puck's final, taunting words._ "Was it a dream... or a prophecy?"_

"Goliath?"

"Hmm?" He shook his head and made himself focus; he'd been silent for nearly a minute now.

He stared into Lexington's face, the large, bright eyes looking up at him - and made a decision.

"I woke up." He said, tension fading from his face.

"Really? Just, like - it was all over?"

"Yes. All over."

"How?"

"...When Elisa began to unrelentingly demand the Phoenix Gate, I realized that what I was seeing had to be an illusion. I refused - and eventually Puck's patience ran out, as it always does. He revealed himself to me, stomping his foot like a frustrated child, angry that I had seen through his designs. I opened a rift with the Phoenix Gate and cast it into its own abyss, breaking the spell and ensuring he would never get his meddlesome hands on its power."

"Wow," Lexington breathed, making a concerted effort to raise one hand and wipe the tears from his face. "That's - wow. I mean, it's terrible, but it's kind of brilliant too."

"Yes, though that kind of deviousness rarely gets one far. Beings like Puck, or men such as Xanatos - as Elisa once told me, I would not want their _karma._"

"Me neither. And I'm just so glad none of it was real, and. That everything's okay. Oh," he said, remembering something. "Last thing. You said that... you thought that everything might have started because we - because _I_ felt so abandoned."

"Yes," Goliath slowly nodded. "Clans are not meant to be separated. And in the scope of that terrible world, it is very possible that mine and Elisa's absence, forty long years, caused grievous enough pain to set us all on that dark path. That world's Brooklyn all but said as much to me."

"After he punched you in the face."

"Indeed." The ghost of a smile across Goliath's face. "You are not the only one who I would not like to see tainted by that future."

"Yeah. I..." Lex shook his head, sighed. Looked away. "I know it sounds crazy, but I get that too. When you guys disappeared we were so scared - we didn't know what was going on, or if you were alive or dead, or-" he broke of for a moment, chewing his lip again. "Once I even thought maybe you got tired of us, and. Left to find a new clan, and a new city where there wasn't so much craziness going on all the time. I know, it was so _stupid,_ but- I still-"

"Lexington. Look at me," he waited until Lex's big eyes were on him again, wet with fresh unspilled tears. "That will _never _happen. If ever there comes a day when I am not with you, if ever I am taken from this clan again by circumstance or duty - know that I am forever with you, in spirit if not flesh. And that every moment, I will be working and living for the hour when we may all be together again. _You will never be abandoned."_

"I know," Lex's voice cracked, little more than syllables attached to a tear-choked breath. "And it wasn't your fault, you didn't ask to be taken away, I know, we all know that now, but." He took in a deep breath. "We just - missed you so much!"

Goliath held him close; small arms went around his neck. A soft, leathery whooshing sound, and his wings unfolded, curling around Lexington's small body and enveloping him, surrounding him entirely with protection and safety and love.

"And I you."

The sun rose on two unlikely statues beside an air conditioner; a small one wrapped in a large one's four-fold embrace. And for the first time that night, carved in stone more lifelike and glorious than any master craftsman's art, Lexington smiled.

# # #

**A/N: **That scene has been eating up inside me for so long. Future Tense has given me nightmares for so many years, all-out _nightmares - _and I so badly wanted some kind of follow-up scene between them, just. Something that would make it a little bit more okay. We never got that, instead tantalizing (and terrifying) hints that the terrible future might come true. So I just had to give this to them. And to myself, and to anyone who ever screamed or cried at what happened there, and maybe doubted that even something as strong and bone-deep and eternal as Goliath's and Lexington's love for their clan might one day die.

Maybe I'm being over-optimistic, maybe this was too sappy, I don't really care. It had to come out, like an odd form of therapy. We will never be abandoned. I hope you liked it.

I may write a little epilogue, maybe not. If nothing else... I feel better. Thank you so much for reading.


End file.
